Simply Politics & News

[StephanieVanbryce]

Californians Have Another Opportunity to Wreck Their Economy...

... by passing Proposition 90. Proposition 90 [1] is a bill that supposedly protects owners from having thier property expropriated. That would be bad enough, but in fact, the way the proposition is worded it would require government to pay for any loss due to regulation.

Let's spell this out. If the government decides to not allow a commercial development to go ahead, it has reduced value and will have to pay. If it insists that a polluting company stop polluting, it has reduced the value of their property and must pay. If it insists that beachfront property owners provide access to a beach they've cut off with their property, that reduces the value of their property and they will have to pay. If they want to build a road not only will they have to pay the cost of the current property on the road, they will have to pay the present value of future earnings, plus the present value of potential earnings "we intended to build a subdivision, which would have earned us 500 million, so you have to pay us that".

If Californians pass this, and indications are that they may, then Californians deserve exactly what they get - which will be the continued decline of thier economy. And eventually (and eventually isn't as far out as it used to be, a lot of Californians are going to lose this death bet) it will cause a collapse in Californians's jealously guarded home values. Becuase when there's no economy, when the government is broke, when no knew government services can be afforded to service the out of control development, and when the schools suck because there's no money, none of the "right sort" of people are going to want to live in most of California.

I, personally, will not cry for Californians. They didn't just ask for what is happening, and what will happen, they go down on their knees and begged for it. I believe in second chances, but sometimes people need to reap the consequences of their actions, when they won't learn any other way. So, if Californians pass this proposition, let them reap what they have sown, and let others learn from it.

And, um, the proposition system itself? Worst. Idea. Ever. Time for a proposition to end propositions.
By Ian Welsh 2006-11-02 18:34


URL: http://agonist.org/ian_welsh/20061102/californians_have_another_opporunity_to_wreck_their_economy
Links:
[1] http://www.calitics.com/tag.do;jsessionid=76A6D311B308261BA04949926432D8C4?tag=Prop+90